


The Shadows That Have Poorly Translated My Life

by mapletardistalia



Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: F/F, F/M, Heroes and Villans AU, M/M, Metahumans, Samuel is a literal baby
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-29
Updated: 2020-06-27
Packaged: 2021-02-28 05:08:31
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 2,499
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22948324
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mapletardistalia/pseuds/mapletardistalia
Summary: The8 and Woozi are both metahumans: descendants of great villains. So by all rights they should be good villains. Unfortunately, they are far from that. Minghao (aka The8) is a bad thief. He is born to be a villain but he's got too big a heart so he teams up with Jihoon (aka Woozi) to fake robberies. With the help of some friends, everything goes swimmingly until a new hero decides to put a stop to their "robberies". Will this hero give Minghao the strength to admit he isn't what he pretends to be and drop the facade?Based on the prompt by generalgrievousdatingsimHero: IS THAT THE BEST YOU CAN DO?VIllain:*chocking back tears* uh, yeah, I'm really trying hard here manHero:**now looking uncomfortable* oh
Relationships: Boo Seungkwan/Chwe Hansol | Vernon, Choi Seungcheol | S.Coups/Hong Jisoo | Joshua/Yoon Jeonghan, Jeon Wonwoo/Kim Mingyu, Kwon Soonyoung | Hoshi/Lee Jihoon | Woozi, Minor or Background Relationship(s), Wen Jun Hui | Jun/Xu Ming Hao | The8
Comments: 4
Kudos: 55





	1. A Perfect Storm

The bank was quiet when Minghao stepped into it. His steps echoed in the grand hall as he walked towards the vaults. With each step he took, he admired the long columns, the intricate desks, the large windows. Everything around him screamed opulence. Even the people draped over whatever was nearest or on the floor were in fancy outfits. Their jewelry winked at him as he passed reflecting the sunlight that shone in from the windows. He doesn’t take any of it; it didn’t interest him in the slightest. The money in the vaults is more what he is after. His powers could easily take him past all of the tripwires and directly into the vault but he walks through them. He triggers every alarm. The cameras whirled to focus on him but their alarms cried out in vain because no one was awake to stop him. When he gets to the vault he uses his power to teleport into the vault and starts packing the money into his bags. The money felt rough against his skin and the alarms started to give him a nauseating headache. After giving a quick wave to the security cameras he runs out. Pushing open the doors runs to the red convertible waiting for him just in front of the door. After shoving the bags into the back he finally lets out a sigh of relief. 

“ You don't really have to run,” Jihoon says raising a brow skeptically at him, “ This whole town is asleep until I wake them,”

“I know it just all makes me sick… besides, the alarms were annoying as fuck. I know we are going for dramatic but, next time can we skip the alarms?", Minghao replied 

“I'll think about it,” Jihoon mumbles sympathetically. Minghao gave him a small smile and buckled his seat belt. Ji was tough but in their world, they only had each other and Jihoon would do anything for him. So at their next heist, there would be no alarms. 

Jihoon focused his energy and made a hand movement that undid his spell before putting the car into gearing and driving towards a familiar apartment. Minghao stared out the window and watched the city wake up as it flew by him. Cars started alley cats stretched their backs out store keeps dusted themselves off and stood at attention awaiting the next customer. When they stopped at a stoplight he stared at a couple sitting at a cafe. The guy had presumably fallen asleep in his cake and they both laughed as his girlfriend wiped cake off his face after every wipe she would kiss him causing him to laugh before he playfully wiped some of the cake onto her face. As the car pulled away from them he craned his head in an effort to keep watching them. But they continued to grow smaller and harder to see as the car moved farther and farther away from them. With a sigh, he collapsed back into his seat earning him a worried glance from Jihoon. 

“We’ll be there soon, don't worry. “ Jihoon said


	2. Thick as Thieves

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Introducing our happy family! Jisoo, Jeonghan, Seungcheol and their two-year-old Samuel!

Finally, they arrived at a luxury apartment complex. Jihoon used their key to swipe into the building and tapped int again to get the evaluator to go up to the penthouse. The evaluators opened in a small mess room. They knocked on the door and had barely stepped back when it swung open, 

“ Do you want to die?” Jeonghan seethed

Now that the door was open Minghao could hear Samuel faintly crying inside one of the rooms of the spacious apartment. 

“What happened?” Minghao asked cautiously 

“ You want to hear what fucking happened?! I finally got my two-year-old to fall asleep for nap time after full ass hour of nursing and crying and then some fucking fool decides to rob a fucking bank! You used that stupid sleep power put us all to sleep and then YOU WOKE US ALL UP! And I mean ALL of us, you idiot. THINK before you act! Now Sam is crying again and we have to do take another hour to put our fussy baby back to sleep! BECAUSE OF YOU WOOZI.”

“ HOW THE FUCK WAS I SUPPOSED TO KNOW IT’S NAPTIME?! I DONT GET A FUCKING IPHONE ALERT JEONGHAN!”

Amidst the chaos of Jihoon and Jeonghan fighting Jisoo walked in with a red-faced Samuel on his hip and Minghao instantly felt bad. Jeonghan and Jihoon quietened for about 2 seconds before continuing to hiss insults at each other and Minghao sidestepped them to walk over to Jisoo. He gathered Samuel in his arms and softly rocked him. Slowly the toddler quietened and burrowed his face in Minghao’s neck. His cries softened to whimpers as sleep overtook him. 

“ Hey. You’re not allowed to love my friend more than your own dad“ Jisoo whispered fondly to his son. 

They moved to the nursery to put Samuel down and closed the door as softly as they could behind them. 

“How are you doing Jisoo? I guess you aren’t sleeping well.”

Jisoo hums lightly before replying, “I haven't slept well in two years, Hao hao. I’m fine.”

“ You know if anyone ever knew you called a famed villain that you’d be vilified or feared”

“If anyone knew that you don’t really steal a dime from anyone you wouldn’t be a famed villain, Hao hao”

He was right. Minghao and JIhoon were not villains. In the past decade, they had lapsed into a routine. Jihoon and Minghao would rob an institution. They’d steal enough money for it to be noticeable and news-worthy but not too much. Then Jeonghan would magnanimously donate an equivalent amount of money to help the victims. What the public didn’t know was that the money being donated was the exact same as the money that had been stolen. While Jeonghan was happy to be a part of the scheme and eager to help his partner could never understand it. He thought it was an awful lot of work to do nothing. What made it worse was that they couldn’t tell their other partner Seungcheol that they were meeting with Jihoon and Minghao much less helping with their scheme. Minghao and Jihoon hanging out with their child would be the icing on the cake because though Seungcheol was a forgiving guy he was very protective of his child. Jisoo was not a liar. He was a good Christian man and all this secrecy was just not his style. Despite his reservations, he stayed quiet. Minghao was grateful because he knew it was all out of love for him and Jihoon.


	3. When it rains it pours

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> * Jihoon doesn't really have that habit as far as I know

The mood in the apartment was light and happy. Jeonghan and Jihoon had given up their stupid fight and were talking about some vocal techniques. Jihoon understandably tired after the morning he’d had and leaned against Jeonghan’s broad shoulders. They used to always be like this. Times like these reminded him of that. The whole scene reminded Minghao of high school. They had gone to a school specifically for meta-humans and at the time they were all best friends.

There were 12 of them most of them being normal people or sons of heroes. Genetically, you were most likely born to parents who had some sort of mutation as well. Typically, if you went to school, you were the son of some hero or sidekick. Jihoon and Minghao were one of the few sons of villains in the school and had been lucky that these 10 had accepted them. Though Minghao and Jihoon were the only villains in the group they felt accepted. They never had to hide anything from them. Their group knew that Jihoon clenched his fists when he lied, that Minghao looked tough but was really a softie. They knew them inside out and trusted them immensely. Perhaps the most damning thing they knew about the duo was that neither wanted to grow up to be villains.

They had a big plan for how they were going to help them escape a life of criminal intent. They were all going to run away and make a band called 17. 17 because that was the member count plus the subunit count plus them being one group plus their eventual fanbase. Which in retrospect was a lot of addition but that never occurred to him at the time. It was his ticket out. They’d tour the world singing Jihoon’s songs. He’d get to dance all day. They’d make an honest living. The day before Minghao would flash his bedroom lights twice and Jihoon would flash his back. Then at the break of dawn, they’d teleport to Seungcheol’s house.

Unfortunately, everything good eventually falls apart. The night before they were supposed to run away from home Minghao turned his bedroom light on and off twice and waited. Minutes turned into hours and Minghao paced worriedly around his room. Had Jihoon forgotten? Had Jihoon changed his mind? More worryingly, was Jihoon even in his room? After waiting 2 hours Minghao had had enough and teleported into his best friend's room to find Jihoon sitting on his bed. The room looked like a hurricane had gone through it. Books were torn and thrown around the room; the group picture was shattered. If the room looked bad Jihoon looked worse. His lip was split, his cheek was bruised blue and eyes were bloodshot from hours of crying.

“It’s over Minghao. He’ll never let me go.” Jihoon choked out, voice thick with tears

“He doesn’t need to let you go anywhere! We’re gonna leave whether they like it or not! We’ll be a band and make tons of money! Hyung, we don’t need them! We are gonna be so fi-“

“I’m not leaving.”

The harsh certainty of the statement stunned Minghao into silence. He picked a blanket up from the floor and wrapped it around Jihoon. He carefully sat down so that he wasn’t touching Jihoon but there was enough space that Jihoon could lean on him if he needed to. Sure enough in a couple of minutes, Jihoon leaned on Minghao and started to cry again. After awhile Jihoon's hiccuping sobs subsided.

“He threatened to kill Seungcheol, Hao. He found out we were planning to run away and said if I did he’d kill Seungcheol. ” Jihoon whispered

“We can tell them. We don’t have to be a band we can do something small? Hide in the countryside?” suggested Minghao. He tried to be hopeful but he knew Jihoon was right. It had been good while it lasted. Fun to dream they could leave.

“It won’t work. He’ll find us.” Jihoon said frustrated

“We have to at least tell them why.”

“No. No we don’t. And we won’t. You are going to go off with them. I’ll tell them I don’t care anymore. That it's too much of a hassle.”

“What the fuck! No! We have to tell them and then we all won’t go!” Minghao cried sitting up in shock.

“If we tell them they’ll all want to help. And they’ll all go up against him and die. I’m not letting you miss out on an opportunity because I can’t have it. Go. Make your hyung proud idiot.” Jihoon said sadly

“I’m not leaving without you. We go or we stay together.” Minghao said grabbing Jihoon’s hand. If he was honest it was tempting to leave and run off with them. The guilt would haunt him his whole life long. Plus they had started this journey together and in the end, they had each other. Always.

“Fine!” Jihoon sighed exaggerated, “Don’t go blaming me when you get lonely!”

"I'd never" Minghao murmured settling against the bed. He nestled in to prepare for the long day ahead of him tomorrow.


	4. Building bridges to burn them

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Flashback cont.

The next day was rough. Rougher than it had been in a while. They walked into the school together and bore the weight of the usual stares and glares but today they felt them more. They were a perfect mix of personalities to be hated by everyone. Their parents were villains, so automatically most of the student population hated them. Add to that the fact that they hung out with heroes’ kids and did not feel resentment towards the hero population and the villains' kids either pitied them or hated them. 

As they walked to Minghao’s first period they ran into their friends. 

“Hey, dude you never showed. You could have at least sent me a text to say you weren’t coming. I waited all night.” He said, clearly trying to laugh off his irritation. He always covered his negative feelings with a shiny sweet veneer. He never wanted to hurt people and always put them before him. His boyfriends, on the other hand, weren’t about to let them off as easily. Jisoo raised his eyebrow at Minghao. Forgiving but annoyed. It was a motherly expression that always made Minghao smile but right now it made his stomach knot with guilt. Seeing the bags under Seungcheol’s eyes worsened the feeling and any words of explanation got caught in his throat. 

Jeonghan waited a moment before crossing his arms and saying, “So. What happened? You do have some explaining to do.”

“We don’t want to go anymore,” Jihoon stated. His voice was cold and detached. Stronger than Minghao had expected. 

“There’s no need to cancel. We can just reschedule for another day.” Seungcheol said looking genuinely confused

“That won’t change the fact that we don’t want to go anymore Seungchoel.”, Jihoon shrugged, “It was a cute idea but it’s kinda dumb and we don’t want to do it.”

“What’s with you Ji? What exactly is your problem?” Jeonghan said angrily

“Did we do something to make you angry?” Seungcheol suggested looking hurt.

Jihoon just crossed his arms and said nothing. Minghao guessed that there was nothing to say. If he answered those questions he’d have to lie. 

“Hao hao...What's going on? Why don’t you want to go?” Jisoo’s voice was so soft and comforting. It made Minghao want to break down and say everything. 

Instead, he weakly murmured, “It's dangerous…”

“We can protect you guys, don’t worry!” Seungcheol said reaching his hand out to Minghao but Jihoon slapped it away

“No. You cant. You always do this. Your stupid hero complex makes you blind to the harsh reality. You’re a high school student. Most adults could outwit you.” JIhoon said

“Don’t you trust us? Are we not your best friends?” Seungcheol cried exasperated

“No.”

Seungcheol took a step back in shock and his eyes smarted as if Jihoon had slapped him across the face. In a few seconds, his face hardened and he turned on his heel and with a muttered “c’mon” walked away. If Seungcheol had looked back he might have seen the silent tears that snaked down Jihoon’s face. He might have noted the bruised skin they uncovered as they washed away the foundation or Jihoon’s tightly clenched fists. But nothing blinds us like our own indignant rage and hurt.

**Author's Note:**

> Title is adapted from the poem: “We All Return to the Place Where We Were Born” by Oscar Gonzales
> 
> If you have any edits please comment! Please comment in general as I've not written very much and I need feedback!


End file.
